1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vibration damper assembly for a washing machine or the like, and more particularly to a vibration damper assembly for use between a frame of a washing machine and the washing drum thereof suspended from the frame, for damping the vibration of the washing machine during operation thereof.
2. Description of the Relevant Art
Some washing machines have a washing drum that can also be used as a spinning drum for removing water from the washed wet material under centrifugal forces. To remove water from wet clothes or the like, they should be placed evenly within the spinning drum. If the wet material is not evenly distributed in the spinning drum, i.e., if it is displaced off the center of rotation of the spinning drum, then the wet material is subjected to large centrifugal forces because it contains much water and heavy, vibrating the spinning drum radially.
The user of such a washing machine is therefore required to be careful enough to place the washed wet material evenly centrally in the spinning drum.
There are known washing machines with washing drums that are rotatable about a horizontal axis. Wet clothes placed in such washing drums are necessarily displaced off the center of rotation of the washing drums. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,254,849 and 4,411,143, for example, disclose washing machines with hydraulic dampers for damping vibration of washing drums that are rotatable about the horizontal axis.
However, when the washing drums rotate at a normal high speed, more vibration is transmitted to the washing machine frame through the hydraulic dampers, producing more noise because of vibratory movement with respect to the floor or other stationary base, than would be if no hydraulic dampers were employed.